Ellen and Edith Emerson
Title
Ellen and Edith Emerson
Subject
Edith and Ellen Emerson
Description
“Yesterday morning, 24 Feb. at 8 o’clock a daughter was born to me, a soft, quiet, swarthy little creature, apparently perfect & healthy. My second child. Blessings on thy head, little winter bud! & comest thou to try thy luck in this world & know if the things of God are things for thee? Well assured & very soft & still, the little maiden expresses great contentment with all she finds, & her delicate but fixed determination to stay where she is, & grow. So be it, my fair child! Lidian, who magnanimously makes my gods her gods, calls the babe Ellen. I can hardly ask more for thee, my babe, than that name implies. Be that vision & remain with us, & after us.”—RWE, journal, February 25, 1839
“Nellie waked & fretted at night & put all sleep of her seniors to rout. Seniors grew very cross, but Nell conquered soon by the pathos & eloquence of childhood & its words of fate. Thus after wishing it would be morning, she broke out into sublimity; ‘Mother, it must be morning.’ Presently, after, in her sleep, she rolled out of bed; I heard the little feet running around on the floor, and then, ‘O dear! Where’s my bed?’
She slept again, and then woke; ‘Mother, I am afraid; I wish I could sleep in the bed be side of you. I am afraid I shall tumble into the waters—It is all water.’ What else could papa do? He jumped out of bed & laid himself down by the little mischief, & soothed her the best he might.”—RWE, journal, June 26, 1842
“Be it known unto you that a little maiden child is born unto this house this day at 5 o clock this afternoon; it is a meek little girl which I have just seen, & in this short dark winter afternoon I cannot tell what color her eyes are, and the less, because she keeps them pretty closely shut: But there is nothing in her aspect to contradict the hope we feel that she has come for a blessing to our little company. Lidian is very well and finds herself suddenly recovered from a host of ails which she suffered from this morning. Waldo is quite deeply happy with this fair unexpected apparition & cannot peep & see it enough. Ellen has retired to bed unconscious of the fact & of all her rich gain in this companion. Shall I be discontented who had dreamed of a young poet that should come? I am quite too much affected with wonder & peace at what I have and behold & understand nothing of, to quarrel with it that it is not different.”—RWE to William and Susan Haven Emerson, November 22, 1841.
“Nellie waked & fretted at night & put all sleep of her seniors to rout. Seniors grew very cross, but Nell conquered soon by the pathos & eloquence of childhood & its words of fate. Thus after wishing it would be morning, she broke out into sublimity; ‘Mother, it must be morning.’ Presently, after, in her sleep, she rolled out of bed; I heard the little feet running around on the floor, and then, ‘O dear! Where’s my bed?’
She slept again, and then woke; ‘Mother, I am afraid; I wish I could sleep in the bed be side of you. I am afraid I shall tumble into the waters—It is all water.’ What else could papa do? He jumped out of bed & laid himself down by the little mischief, & soothed her the best he might.”—RWE, journal, June 26, 1842
“Be it known unto you that a little maiden child is born unto this house this day at 5 o clock this afternoon; it is a meek little girl which I have just seen, & in this short dark winter afternoon I cannot tell what color her eyes are, and the less, because she keeps them pretty closely shut: But there is nothing in her aspect to contradict the hope we feel that she has come for a blessing to our little company. Lidian is very well and finds herself suddenly recovered from a host of ails which she suffered from this morning. Waldo is quite deeply happy with this fair unexpected apparition & cannot peep & see it enough. Ellen has retired to bed unconscious of the fact & of all her rich gain in this companion. Shall I be discontented who had dreamed of a young poet that should come? I am quite too much affected with wonder & peace at what I have and behold & understand nothing of, to quarrel with it that it is not different.”—RWE to William and Susan Haven Emerson, November 22, 1841.
Rights
All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library
Source
Amelia Forbes Emerson
Publisher
Concord Free Public Library
Date
Undated
Collection
Tags
Citation
“Ellen and Edith Emerson,” William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library, accessed June 2, 2025, https://mail.sc.concordlibrary.org/items/show/2067.